Cloud Nine Birthday

A lovely sketch from CAS Colours and Sketch's as their challenge #318 led me back to an old favourite, the 'Lift Me Up' Suite from Stampin' Up! I used two of the colours from Paper Craft Crew's 'Mystery Colour' challenge PPC334 - Coastal Cabana and Poppy Parade - and added Balmy Blue.
There's something about making a card with the sky in it that makes me feel good!

Ingredients: Stampin' Up card, (Balmy Blue, Whisper White), ink (Stazon Black, Memento Black), Lift Me Up stamps, dies (Rectangle Stitched, Up & Away), watercolour pencils (Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue), blender pen, Lift Me Up DSP.
Other: Derwent Inktense watercolour pencil in Poppy Red.

Back to Balloons

For CAS Colours and Sketches challenge #303,

I returned to one of my favourite suites: Lift me Up/Up and Away. I decided to keep the card monochromatic except for the sun, just to give a real 'hope in darkness' feel. I used vellum for some of the clouds to capture the transparency in the sketch, and textured them and the 'filling' for the balloon for a bit more difference/depth in the whites.

Ingredients: Stampin' Up card (Whisper White, Basic Black), ink (Basic Black, Pineapple Punch), Stamps (Lift Me Up, Sunshine and Rainbows) dies ,(Up and Away), vellum.

Rainbow birthday

CAS(E) this Sketch's sketch #254 was very pretty and floral:

The sketch provided my inspiration - but I think I ended up a bit off-piste - perhaps my decision to try to avoid the literal interpretation of using flowers was to blame! I think you can still see the remains of the sketch, though: 

I do love the new rainbows Stampin' Up has introduced - am going to play with these lots, I think. (And they just beg to be combined with balloons!)
Made using:
Stampin' Up:
Dies (Stitched Shapes, Rainbow Builder Framelits, Up and Away)
Stamps: Lift Me Up, Balloon Celebrations (for the sentiment)
Paper and card: Kraft, Soft Sky, Whisper White, Botanical Gardens Vellum, (and for the rainbow, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Rose Red (and a random other purple piece)
Derwent Ink Intense Watercolour pencils

Thanks for lifting me upUp and Away

I loved the colour combination in Colour Throwdown;s #457 and had intended to make a very subtly coloured card, full of delicate detail. So much for that idea - the colours got stronger the more I played around. I did, however, work hard to keep the clouds light, in keeping with As you See It's sketch #157 - I liked the idea of them gently supporting the rest of the image, rather than being an overwhelming part of it. To that end, I used vellum and the outline stamp in Whisper White, rather than a bolder die cut white.
Here's the card:

Made using: Stampin' Up paper (Daffodil Delight, Sweet Sugarplum, Melon Mambo, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey), ink (Basic Black, Whisper White, Smoky Slate), vellum (Botanical Gardens), Stamp sets (Lift Me Up), dies (Up and Away).
Other Products: francheville rhinestones, My Favourite Things Dies (a freebie) for the sentiment

Balloon Congratulations

The lovely crisp colours of Global Design Project's GDP#073:

 leant themselves to a crisp, simple design. I found such a design in CAS(E) this Sketch's #208:

I absolutely love the clouds in Stampin' Up's Lift Me Up stamp set, so took the cloud in the sketch literally. I returned to an old favourite, Balloon Celebration, for the balloons, and used a New Zealand koru pattern to emboss. I ended up sponging ink onto white card for the balloons to get the right depth of colour, and I heat embossed the sentiment in black just to add an extra crispness. 

Made Using:
Stampin' Up: Whisper White and Basic Black Paper: Lift Me Up and Balloon Celebration stamp sets, baker's twine, Watermelon Wonder, Daffodil Delight and Emerald Envy inks.
Craft Creations: New Zealand koru embossing folder
American Crafts: Black glitter finish embossing powder.

Balloon Sunset

I used the opportunity of the double challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches (#208) to have my first play withe the Stampin; Up 'Lift Me Up' stamps and 'Up & Away' dies. Fun! I've rotated the sketch and been a little liberal in my interpretation - hope that's okay. I also had to go with the closest colours I have, since my card habit post

dates the colours in the sketch.


Made using
Stampin; Up 'Lift Me Up' stamps and 'Up & Away' dies; Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango and Peekaboo Peach papers; Mint Macaron and Tangerine Tango Ink,